Wausau - Republican Tommy Thompson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin tussled in a debate Thursday over the economy, health care, the federal deficit and Iran as they battle for the upper hand in a razor-close race that could determine control of the Senate.

The two borrowed the style of Tuesday's presidential debate with aggressive parries at one another throughout the hourlong debate.

Thompson painted Baldwin as a liberal extremist, and Baldwin said Thompson was a Washington insider who worked for a lobbying firm and was beholden to special interests.

The debate before an audience of 350 people at the University of Wisconsin-Marathon County included several extended segments that were unmoderated, leading to some testy exchanges.

Both candidates were on the offensive and interrupted each other, but Thompson often took the more aggressive tone. At one point, he tried cutting Baldwin off.

Just before the debate, the Huffington Post reported Thompson held investments in companies that did business with Iran, and Baldwin used that to score points during the debate.

Thompson said he learned of the investments Thursday and sold them that day.

Senators on Iran

Iran was expected to get attention in the debate because it had been an issue all day, with U.S. Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina - authorities on international policy in the GOP - visiting Milwaukee to criticize Baldwin on the issue.

"When you vote against sanctions on Iran, that's not on the fringe, that's over the edge," McCain told reporters.

In the debate, Thompson blasted Baldwin for accepting nearly $60,000 from the Council for a Livable World, which opposes nuclear weapons and argues that Iran is not a current threat to the United States.

Baldwin voted for two sanctions bills since she announced her run for the U.S. Senate. She previously opposed several sanctions bills but also voted in favor of a five-year extension of sanctions against Iran and Libya in 2001. She said in the debate she had not voted for sanctions for a period because she thought a pro-democracy movement in the country could take root.

Baldwin said she supports President's Barack Obama's approach to Iran - that all options are on the table.

Then, she told the audience Thompson had investments in companies that do business in Iran, including holdings in a company that mines uranium for Iran. Thompson said his stockbroker bought the stock and that he sold them as soon as he learned of them Thursday.

"I don't agree with anyone doing the business with Iran," Thompson said.

Health care plans

The two also tangled over health care. Baldwin voted for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, and has backed a single-payer system that would have the federal government fund health care costs for all Americans.

Thompson has railed against Obamacare, saying he would vote to repeal it and replace it with a voucherlike plan similar to the one authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Janesville, the Republican vice presidential candidate.

A comment Thompson made to a tea party group in June has been turned into an ad against him that features him saying, "Who better than me . . . to come up with programs to do away with Medicare and Medicaid?" Asked about that comment during the debate, Thompson said he had successfully reformed welfare as governor and that he wanted to similarly overhaul federal health care programs.

Baldwin was asked about saying in the past that she "supported a government takeover of health care," but in her response she did not mention her longtime backing of a single-payer system. Instead, she touted her support for keeping Medicare intact as it is.

"The program isn't just a program," she said. "It's a promise, and one I vow to keep - not voucherize it or do away with it."

Thompson bristled at his plan being referred to as a voucher program and distanced his from the one offered by Ryan, even though he has tried to draw Ryan close to him at other times.

Baldwin also attacked Thompson for his time in charge of Medicare, noting that during his tenure as health secretary the year the program was projected to go bankrupt moved up from 2029 to 2020.

"He ran Medicare. You could say he ran it into the ground," Baldwin said.

As she has in the past, she blasted him for his role in passing the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit because it includes a provision that prevents the federal government from negotiating with drug companies on price. She said she regretted that Democrats hadn't undone the provision when they controlled the House and the Senate two years ago.

Thompson criticized Baldwin for voting against what has turned into a popular program and said he wasn't responsible for preventing negotiations on drug prices - an idea that he said was borrowed from Democrats.

"It was not my responsibility," he said.

Baldwin shot back that Thompson has claimed credit for the prescription drug program in other settings.

"You were the quarterback and mastermind of Part D but you had nothing to do with it?" she said.

Economic issues

On the economy, Thompson said Wisconsin was "on fire" while he was governor and said that he was able to cut taxes 91 times.

"Anybody who wanted a job could have one. That's my record," he said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said Baldwin has increased taxes 155 times and charged that during her time in Congress she's done little to help the economy.

"Every chance my opponent gets to vote for a tax increase, she will vote for it," he said.

Baldwin touted a measure passed in the last session with the help of Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) that will provide penalties on Chinese companies that compete unfairly with U.S. paper companies.

Thompson also touted his tax plan, which would allow people to either pay a flat tax or fill out the usual forms so that they could take deductions. He joked that people could do their taxes during halftime while watching a Green Bay Packers game.

The race between the two has turned into a virtual coin flip. A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday showed the two in a statistical tie, with Thompson garnering support from just three more respondents than Baldwin. Baldwin led, however, in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll on Thursday, with 49% to Thompson's 45%.

The final debate will be Oct. 26 at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Patrick Marley reported for this story from Wausau and Lee Bergquist from Milwaukee. Bill Glauber and Daniel Bice of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Milwaukee.

About Patrick Marley

Patrick Marley covers state government and state politics. He is the author, with Journal Sentinel reporter Jason Stein, of "More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin.”